Research Manager

Kieran Madden

Kieran Madden is Maxim Institute’s Research Manager, leading and guiding our research programme. With a Master’s in Public Policy from the Crawford School of Economics and Government at ANU, Kieran has considered a broad range of social policy issues, primarily focused on understanding and developing effective policies to reduce poverty in New Zealand.

Most recently, Kieran has been exploring the potential for character skills—things like perseverance, motivation, and self-control—to navigate the future of work in New Zealand. Kieran is also currently delving into the problem of loneliness and social isolation, a growing concern in these uncertain times.

Read his work
Senior Researcher

Julian Wood

Julian is primarily a labour economist with a Masters in Social Science and a history of strategic labour market policy work in minimum wages, migration and regional development. Julian has produced a wide range of research for the Maxim Institute covering Regional Development, Migration and Active Labour Market Policies (ALMP).

His regional development work included drawing attention to decline and transition policy for regions as they increasingly face demographic and economic change. His migration work highlighted New Zealand’s over-reliance on temporary work visas — contrasting this with welcoming policy and Manākitanga.
His meta-analysis of what AMLP’s work in a recession, directly fed into discussions with officials over options to respond well to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Julian is currently examining modern forms of work and how these increasingly non-standard/platform/precarious work practices interface with the tax and welfare support systems. The suspicion is not very well.

Read his work
Danielle van Dalen

Researcher

Hailing from the Waikato, Danielle joined the Maxim Institute research team in 2016 after completing a MSc in Political Science from Leiden University in the Netherlands. Danielle has produced research on overcoming the barriers to employment for people with disabilities, the role of Government and society in protecting the freedoms of our society, as well as leading our research on the End of Life Choice Act, and the Abortion Legislation Bill.

Currently working on end of life care, Danielle is considering how we best ensure that there is sufficient access and funding for all New Zealanders and their families to the best possible care and support at the end of life.

View her work
Researcher

Alapasita Teu

Joining the Maxim Institute research team in 2021, Alapasita holds a Bachelor of Physical Education (Hons) and a Master in Public Health from the University of Otago. Her work includes leading research on factors that shape the academic success of Pacific students, as well as community research on Pacific youth, debt and family violence prevention. Currently working on research around poverty and predatory lending, Alapasita is examining the implications of new credit law changes on third-tier lenders to vulnerable groups at risk of predatory lending.

View her work

Maxim Institute is an independent charitable trust that relies on the generous support of families, community groups, trusts, and individuals—without them, we wouldn’t exist.

We’d love to have you join our Community of Supporters. We need people like you to help us continue this work—and to grow it—so we can respond to today’s challenges and opportunities and help create a better future for the next generation.